Store wars: angry shoppers fight back on social media and business have to act

FROM rewards programs to sandwich wrap complaints, customers are wielding some impressive force on social media finally forcing companies to act.

ANTHONY KEANE

News Corp Australia NetworkFebruary 6, 201611:00pm

Woolworths to pay $3m for dodgy products0:45

Woolworths has been hit with a $3 million penalty for failing to alert the watchdog about dodgy products.

February 5th 2016

2 years ago

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THERE has been an awakening in the shopping universe. Have you felt it?

As supermarket chains battle each other and foreign competitors, angry shoppers are starting to exert some force of their own through social media, people power and voting with their wallets and purses.

Its backflip reportedly cost it millions of dollars, plus likely lost sales, and it would be interesting to see if sales ever recovered to their earlier levels. I personally stuck with Glad’s competitor after finding nothing wrong with it.

In October, Australia’s biggest supermarket chain told its nine million rewards customers that it was replacing its tie-up with Qantas — where customers earned a Qantas frequent flyer point for every dollar spent over $30 — with a new Woolworths Rewards program.

Now “Woolworths Dollars” are earned when you buy items with an orange sticker, and once you earn ten dollars you get $10 off your next shop. That sounds okay, except you usually have to buy relatively obscure products to get any payback — organic tomato chutney anyone?

I’ve experimented with this program since January, spending about $1500 on family shopping to receive a measly two Woolworths Dollars.

Not happy Jamie ... The new Woolworths Rewards program has been slammed by many shoppers.Source:News Corp Australia

I thought my new card was broken before I discovered there are only about 500 orange stickers on the shelves at a given time in supermarkets that may hold more than 40,000 different product lines.

An online rant by shopper Scott Mate in December slamming the new Woolworths program has so far attracted 58,000 likes on Facebook and almost 8500 comments — most of them negative.

A few people have said that the complainers should pull their heads in and remember that a rewards program is something for nothing anyway. But when you give your customers something, then take it away, they can quickly feel let down.

Woolworths did a half-backflip on the frequent flyer points situation in December, announcing a new deal with Qantas that will soon allow customers to redeem 870 Qantas Points for every 10 Woolworths Dollars earned. But those elusive Woolworths Dollars still make the scheme a poor cousin to the previous offer that could deliver shoppers a couple of free flights each year.

Sadly, after more than 20 years of shopping at Woolworths, I am joining the growing number customers voting with their feet and switching supermarkets — unless the current online onslaught from angry consumers works.

Spider in Woolworths lettuce0:24

Sydney woman Zoe Perry filmed a massive spider inside a bag of Woolworths lettuce and posted it to Facebook

February 5th 2016

2 years ago

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You’ve got to feel sorry for retailers’ social media departments, constantly having to respond to shoppers’ complaints with “We’re sorry about …” even if those complaints are frivolous.

Giving everyday shoppers an effective online megaphone works wonders in many cases. And the fact that one bloke whinging about a revamped supermarket rewards program can generate so much debate shows that shopping is close to our hearts.

Electronics retailer Dick Smith is copping lots of flak about refusing to honour gift cards even though it’s still trading after going into receivership last month. Even Coles gets abused online, despite avoiding the latest Woolworths debacle, from shopper over everything from bread going out of date quickly to too much fat on their steak.

It’s a tough new world for retail businesses, and as Aldi expands aggressively and new foreign players eye Australian shores, it’s going to get tougher.

Whatever the future holds, the force is strong in the consumer. Wield that power with care.